Status for All Now!
Tell the Prime Minister
"Respect Your Commitments!"
Action at Immigration Minister Marc Miller's Montreal office
demanding Status for All!,
September 17, 2023
Between December 16-18, the Migrant Rights Network (MRN), is organizing Canada-wide actions for a regularization program for undocumented people and permanent resident status for migrant students and workers.
"On December 16, 2021" says the MRN, "Prime Minister Trudeau made a mandate letter commitment that Immigration Ministers have repeated many times over since: a regularization program for undocumented people and permanent resident status for migrant students and workers. But we are still waiting!"[1]
The second anniversary of that commitment is fast upon us, with nothing to show. In his mandate letter to then Immigration Minister Sean Fraser, the Prime Minister wrote: "As Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, you will prioritize ongoing work to strengthen Canada's immigration and refugee system. ... As well, you will continue to strengthen family reunification and reduce application processing times, especially those impacted by COVID-19."[2]
To realize those objectives, he asked the Immigration Minister to achieve results for Canadians by delivering on certain commitments, one of which was to "[b]uild on existing pilot programs to further explore ways of regularizing status for undocumented workers who are contributing to Canadian communities."
The Prime Minister also tasked
his Immigration Minister to make headway on leading the
government's work on irregular migration and expanding pathways
to Permanent Residence for international students and temporary
foreign workers. With regard to work on irregular migration,
what Canadians saw was the closing of the irregular border
crossing at Roxham Road in Quebec, through which migrants could
safely enter the country.
In early November, both the federal and Quebec governments announced their immigration plans for the coming years. For 2025-2026, Canada announced its target of 500,000 new permanent residents. Quebec opted for the status quo, 50,000 per year, as well as those admitted under the Graduates component of its Quebec Experience Program (2024-2025).
Montreal's Immigrant Workers Centre (IWC), one of the main organizers and defenders of migrants in Quebec, noted that "no plan to improve the protection of the rights of people entering or already here with temporary or no immigration status has been presented, even though their numbers are constantly growing. Nor was there any announcement of the abolition of the closed permit, a demand made by a number of community and trade union organizations. And nothing on the regularization of undocumented immigrants, despite Justin Trudeau's promise to do so twenty-three months ago. These people are the lifeblood of an entire section of the economy, yet they are not recognized as having the same fundamental rights as any other citizen."[3]
The Migrant Rights Network is calling upon everyone to take action this December 16-18, 2023 to mark that "promise, the holidays, International Migrants Day [December 18] and its five-year anniversary.
"Together, we will demand equal rights at work, universal access to services and family unity which is only possible through permanent resident status." The organization is calling on everyone to "make these actions a success" by participating massively in them.
It's a warm and compelling invitation to us all: "Join us: This Holiday, We Unite, Status for All Is Our Right!"
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 32 - December 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53321.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca